The present invention relates to computer graphics processing, operator interface processing, and selective visual display systems and, more particularly, to image size control (i.e., enlargement).
FrameMaker(copyright) from Adobe Systems, Inc. is a powerful desktop publishing software package. However, visually-impaired users have difficulty performing simple tasks in the UNIX version of FrameMaker(copyright) because the menus, window borders, dialog windows, toolbars, cursors, documents, on-line help manuals, and product documentation are displayed in sizes, colors, and formats that result in small displays, poor discriminability, low contrast, and few displayed commands which are difficult to read. FrameMaker(copyright) provides some capability for enhancing readability (e.g., manual magnification), but this capability is limited and often requires many manual steps where the commands are scattered over a large area, resulting in a reduction in efficiency of a visually-impaired user.
Visually-impaired users have requested improved readability in FrameMaker(copyright) to see text and execute commands in a manner that is no more burdensome then on a visually unimpaired user. Presently, large computer monitors are commercially available for providing magnification which will enhance readability, but such monitors are expensive. The present invention provides enhanced readability and efficiency of use in FrameMaker(copyright) on a standard computer monitor that is inexpensive as compared to a large computer monitor.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,331, entitled xe2x80x9cDIGITALLY ENHANCED IMAGER FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED,xe2x80x9d discloses a device for and method of creating high resolution, high contrast images of textual documents to enhance readability for the visually impaired. However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,331 does not disclose a method of enhancing readability of the FrameMaker(copyright) desktop publishing software package. U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,331 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,805, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EYETRACK-DRIVEN TEXT ENLARGEMENT,xe2x80x9d discloses a device for and method of expanding information of interest to a use on a computer monitor. U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,805 requires a device for tracking the gaze of the user to determine the information of interest whereas the present invention does not. U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,805 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,965, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD FOR MAGNIFYING A PLURALITY OF DISPLAY IMAGES TO REVEAL MORE DETAILED INFORMATION,xe2x80x9d discloses a method of displaying multiple images, where the data in the images are hierarchical in nature. The present invention does not require the images made more readable be hierarchical in nature. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,965 does not disclose a method of making FrameMaker(copyright) more readable in an efficient manner as does the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,965 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,035, entitled xe2x80x9cMENU SELECTION WITH MENU STEM AND SUBMENU SIZE ENLARGEMENT,xe2x80x9d discloses a method of increasing the size of a menu item, or sub-menu item, at which the user points. However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,035 does not disclose a method of enhancing the readability of FrameMaker(copyright) in an efficient manner as does the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,035 is hereby incorporated by reference into the specification of the present invention.
An object of the present invention is enhancing the readability of FrameMaker(copyright) for a visually-impaired user.
Another object of the present invention is enhancing the readability of FrameMaker(copyright) for a visually-impaired user in a manner that is as efficient to a visually-impaired user as an unenhanced version of FrameMaker(copyright) is to a user whose vision is not impaired.
The present invention is a method of enhancing the readability of FrameMakert(copyright) by converting a relatively small display into one containing relatively large menus, large window borders, large cursors, and large dialog boxes.
The first step of the method is determining whether or not the file xe2x80x9c.maker.largexe2x80x9d exists in the user""s $HOME directory.
If the file xe2x80x9c.maker.largexe2x80x9d is in $HOME then the second step is setting an environmental variable $EZRIDER to the pathname of the directory containing the enlarged EASYRIDER client files (i.e., $FMHOME/fdk/NSAapps.large).
If the file xe2x80x9c.maker.largexe2x80x9d is not in $HOME then the third step is setting the environmental variable $EZRIDER to the pathname of the directory containing the normal, not enlarged, EASYRIDER client files (i.e., $FMHOME/fdk/NSAapps).
If the second step was performed then the fourth step is setting the X Window Large Display Resources into RESOURCE_MANAGER property of the root window of screen 0.
After either the third step or the fourth step, the fifth step is determining whether or not the X resource xe2x80x9cMaker.api.preference.autoApplyxe2x80x9d is set to true in $HOME/.Xdefaults.
If the X resource xe2x80x9cMaker.api.preferences.autoApplyxe2x80x9d is set to true then the sixth step is turning on the notification for FrameMaker(copyright) to contact Personal Preferences after the user opens any file.
The seventh step is initializing each EASYRIDER API client.
The eighth step is initializing FrameMaker(copyright) product dialogs.
The fourth step above is realized by setting the resources for the main product window to a button font to 25 point Helvetica bold, a width of 412 pixels, and a height of 84 pixels; setting the font resources for the document window status bar and menu bar to a font of 17 point Helvetica bold; setting the font resources for the document window pop-up menus to a font of 24 point Helvetica bold; setting the color resources for the document window so that the foreground and the background are complementary colors; setting the color resources of the document window scroll bars so that the background and the trough are complementary colors; setting the resource to make it easier to read colored text that is highlighted by setting slow highlighting to true; setting the font resource for the dialog boxes for scroll list items to 17 point Helvetica bold and all other items to 17 point Helvetica bold; setting the resources to make it easier to distinguish the xe2x80x9cONxe2x80x9d setting from the xe2x80x9cOFFxe2x80x9d setting by selecting the color red for the xe2x80x9cONxe2x80x9d setting; setting the color resources to make it easier to distinguish the xe2x80x9cOFFxe2x80x9d setting from the xe2x80x9cAS ISxe2x80x9d setting by making the top shadow and the bottom shadow complementary colors; setting the color resources in the main product window, the menus, the dialogs, and the document window scroll bars so that the foreground and the background are complementary colors; setting the resources for the Character Catalog and the Paragraph Catalog to a font of 20 point Helvetica bold, a width of 272 pixels, and a height of 336 pixels; setting the resources for the Book window to a font of 24 point Helvetica bold, a width of 600 pixels, and a height of 450 pixels; setting resources for the cursors to a textline of xe2x80x9ctextline_largexe2x80x9d, an arrow of xe2x80x9cleft_ptr_largexe2x80x9d, a reshape of xe2x80x9ccrosshair_largexe2x80x9d, a dialog of xe2x80x9cleft_ptr_largexe2x80x9d, an ibeam of xe2x80x9cxterm_largexe2x80x9d, an ibeaml of xe2x80x9cIbeamLeft_largexe2x80x9d, an ibeamr of xe2x80x9cIbeamRight_largexe2x80x9d, an ibeam90 of xe2x80x9cIbeam90_largexe2x80x9d, a move of xe2x80x9cmove largexe2x80x9d, a rotate of xe2x80x9crotobject_largexe2x80x9d, a doreshape of xe2x80x9cdraft_largexe2x80x9d, a crosshair of xe2x80x9ccrosshair_largexe2x80x9d, and a cellresize of xe2x80x9cright_largexe2x80x9d; setting the resources for using alternate dialogs to a directory suffix of xe2x80x9c_ckxe2x80x9d and a name prefix of xe2x80x9cfmck_xe2x80x9d; setting size resources for the Large Tools window by setting the minimum and maximum height to 441 pixels and the minimum and maximum width to 430 pixels; setting the size resource for the Small Tool palette to a minimum height of 72 pixels; setting general resources for all file browsers in the dialog windows to a height and width of 200 pixels, a margin height and width of 0 pixels, and the top attachment, bottom attachment, left attachment, and right attachment to xe2x80x9cXmATTACH_FORMxe2x80x9d; setting the textbox resources for all file browsers in the dialog windows to an x and y of 0 pixels and a width of 294 pixels; setting the scrolllist resources for all of the file browsers in the dialog windows to an x of 2 pixels, a y of 30 pixels, a visible item count of 8, a width of 172 pixels, a bottom offset of 42 pixels, a top offset of 32 pixels, and a top attachment and a bottom attachment of xe2x80x9cXmATTACH_FORMxe2x80x9d; setting the resources for the current directory for all of the files in the dialog windows to an x of 0 pixels, a y of 158 pixels, a recompute size of false, a height of 20 pixels, a width of 192 pixels, a bottom offset of 20 pixels, and a left attachment, a right attachment, and a bottom attachment of xe2x80x9cXmATTACHH_FORMxe2x80x9d; and setting the resources of the file count for all of the file browsers in the dialog windows to an x of 0 pixels, a y of 174 pixels, a recompute size of false, a height of 19 pixels, a width of 192 pixels, and a bottom attachment of xe2x80x9cXmATTACH_FORM.xe2x80x9d
The steps for realizing the seventh step above are determining whether or not the client uses resource files. If so then setting the environmental variable $FAPIDIR to $EZRIDER, where $EZRIDER is the current client""s directory of normal sized or enlarged files, running the client executables, and opening the dialog resource files and button palettes residing in $FAPIDIR.If not then setting the environmental variable $FAPIDIR to $FMHOME/fdk/NSAapps, and running the client executables.
The steps for realizing the eighth step above are determining whether or not the large display option was chosen. If so then opening the x resource dialog files residing in $FMHOME/fininit/usenglish/xresources_ck using X Window Large Display Resources set in the fourth step above. If not then opening the X resource dialog files residing in $FMHOME/fminit/usenglish/xresources using default X Window Resources. Note that the present invention applies to any language. If another language is desired then the appropriate language file would be used in place of xe2x80x9cusenglish.xe2x80x9d
The steps for establishing a user""s personal preferences when using FrameMaker(copyright) include determining if a callback notification was received upon the opening of a document; determining if a callback notification was received upon either a menu command or a keyboard (KB) shortcut command; determining if a callback notification was received upon a hypertext message from the Toolbar. If it is determined that a callback notification was received then determining whether or not the suffix of the filename is xe2x80x9c.hlp.xe2x80x9d If so then exiting. If not then determining if the file is a view only palette. If so then exiting. If not then opening the file xe2x80x9cpreferencesxe2x80x9d in the $HOME directory. If the last step was performed then do the following steps: reading the zoom percentages from xe2x80x9c.preferencesxe2x80x9d; converting the zoom value to a real number; converting the real number to a metric number; dividing the metric number by 100; setting the zoom property to the result of the last step; reading the width of the document being worked on by the user from xe2x80x9c.preferencesxe2x80x9d; converting the width value to an integer value; setting the width property to the result of the last step; reading the height of the document being worked on by the user from xe2x80x9c.preferencesxe2x80x9d; converting the height value to an integer value; setting the height property to the result of the eighteenth step; and closing the xe2x80x9c.preferencesxe2x80x9d file in the $HOME directory.
FIG. 1 is a chart of the directories and files used in the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flow-chart of the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a first part of a flow-chart for realizing step 4 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 4 is a second part of the flow-chart of FIG. 3;
FIG. 5 is a flow-chart for realizing step 7 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 6 is a flow-chart for realizing step 8 of FIG. 2;
FIG. 7 is a flow-chart for establishing a user""s personal preferences; and
FIGS. 8-10 are charts of large cursors generated by the present invention.